Friday, October 30, 2009

Yesterday a jury awarded $16.5 million to the family of a woman who died after taking part in a radio-sponsored water drinking contest. Back in 2007, Jennifer Strange drank 2 gallons of water without urinating in a "Hold Your Wee For A Wii" contest on "107.9 The End" in Sacramento, California. After finishing in 2nd place, the mother of three vomited and complained of a headache before heading home. She later died of water intoxication. Entercom Sacramento LLC was found to be 100% at fault after a week of deliberations by a jury.

KDND is a Contemporary Hit Music station licensed to Sacramento. They're one of three Top-40 stations in that market along with KSFM and KBMB. Prior to their CHR format they were a Classic Rock station known as "Arrow 108" KXOA.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

WQNF was a short-lived Rock station in Louisville, Kentucky circa 1994. They had an All-80s format afterwards and are currently part of the Way-FM group of Contemporary Christian stations as WRVI. WQNF was licensed to Valley Station, KY.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

"PS tomorrow is National Bologna Day. How will you celebrate and can you find a radio sticker to go with it. YOU HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED!!!!!!"

Love FM is a radio station located in, wait for it.....BOLOGNA, Italy. Actually it’s one of at least 7 Love FM stations throughout the country. I listened to the one from Bologna and one from Bari while writing this and they’re pretty much an Adult Contemporary station: Madonna, REM, Tears For Fears, a song called “Music and Lights” by Imagination (which sounded an awful like Kool & the Gang) and a long-forgotten gem, “Voices” by Russ Ballard. The two stations had separate programming so I guess Love FM wouldn’t be considered a network. Didn’t hear any DJs but I did hear what I think was the news. Station IDs were in both English and Italian.

There was a bologna factory where I used to live in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. Seltzer's Smokehouse Meats specializes in Lebanon bologna, a smoky, tangy beef sausage which was a childhood food staple (along with other regional favorites like birch beer and Tastykakes.)

So there you go, Jeff. A balogna-related Radio Sticker of the Day post. Happy?

Friday, October 23, 2009

My son is recovering from the flu and stayed home from school again today. He was feeling better so after I lost to him in a game of Life we watched Stand By Me. Somehow I had gone all these years without seeing this 1986 movie about 4 kids who make a two-day hike to find a dead body. It’s set in Oregon circa 1959 and radio plays a small role. A “Boss Jock” DJ from the fictional K-L-A-M is heard in a couple voiceovers as well as a participant in a pie eating contest. The pie scene ends in a gloriously disgusting Barf-O-Rama which will never be forgotten by anyone who’s ever seen this movie.

There exists an actual station with the call letters KLAM located in Cordova, Alaska. “1450 The Clam” first went on the air in 1954 and today airs a mix of Country, Classic Rock and Talk. Cordova was known as the “Clam Capital of the World” until an earthqauke destroyed the local clam beds in 1964.

This is a dual sticker with KLAM's sister station KCDV "100.9 FM The Eagle."

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

J103 is a Contemporary Christian station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Their programming is simulcast on two stations: 102.7 FM WBDX licensed to Trenton, Georgia and 103.1 FM WJLJ licensed to Etowah, Tennessee.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

KYNZ was an Adult Contemporary station licensed to Lone Grove, Oklahoma. Apparently they switched frequencies from 106.7 to 107.1 sometime between 1999 and 2002. Currently, KYNZ is an Oldies station known as "GTO 107."

Monday, October 19, 2009

Radio Sweden is the official international broadcasting station of Sweden. According to their website they began operating as AB Radiotjanst on New Year's Day in 1925. Their historical timeline doesn't mention anything happening in 1938 as the above sticker would indicate. Currently, the Stockholm-based "Sveriges Radio" broadcasts 7 different digital radio channels.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Every October 18th is Alaska Day which is a legal state holiday in the 49th state. It celebrates the anniversary of the formal transfer of the Territory of Alaska from Russia to the United States which took place in 1867. The U.S. bought the territory for a mere 7.2 million dollars or 1.7 cents per acre. Everybody knows that Alaska is the largest state in the union but to get an idea of just how huge it really is, take a look at this map:

KBRW AM & FM are non-commercial, public radio stations in BaRroW, Alaska, the northernmost city in the United States.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

One of my favorite songs of the 1980s comes from the debut EP from the ska/punk band Fishbone. It's inexplicably titled "? (Modern Industry)" and consists mainly of radio station call letters being sung over a funky groove. Some nice logos start appearing at about the 1:16 mark, a few of which from stations that I'm sure never played this oddball song when it came out in 1985. Call letters scroll at the bottom of the screen the whole way through and most of them seem to be from actual stations, many of which still exist today.

The first call letters mentioned in the song are from WBRU, a Modern Rock station from BRown University in Providence, Rhode Island. WBRU was the first student owned-and-operated college station in the United States dating back to 1936. Today they are one of the few college stations that operate on a commercial basis. The staff is a mix of students and professionals and receives no funding from Brown University. This sticker is circa 1981 when WBRU was a freeform Album Rock station. A coupon from the old Strawberries Records & Tapes store can be faintly seen on the backside of the sticker.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh was dropped from the group looking to buy the St. Louis Rams football team. Limbaugh predictably blamed “the left” in this country from preventing his bid to become an NFL owner. The even blowhardier Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have tried to block Rush from buying the team because of his past comments, particularly one about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb being overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

103.3 KLOU is am Oldies/Classic Hits station in St. Louis, Missouri. They were the Rams flagship station from 2000 until 2008. Until they lost the rights to Rams games this year to WXOS, KLOU's HD2 station carried "All Rams Radio," a year-round playback of entire past games.

960 AM KZIM (ZIMmer Radio Group--the former owners) is a News/Talk station licensed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I find this sticker confusing. KZIM is located in Rush Limbaugh's hometown and carries his program but is saying that Rush is NOT right? Am I missing something here?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Albuquerque, New Mexico's KANW is the oldest FM station in the Land of Enchantment, dating back to 1951. It's a public radio station owned by Albuquerque Public Schools and plays mostly Spanish music along with National Public Radio programming. This sticker is made to look like New Mexico's godawful license plates. I'm trying to think about how annoyed I would be if I lived there and was forced to attach this screaming banana-yellow plate on my car. Truly one of the ugliest in all America.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

A few stickers from "Star" branded stations, a name so stunningly boring it makes "Mix" stations look exciting by comparison. It's the radio equivalent of naming your dog Spot. My records show that I have 60 stickers from "Star" stations...here are three of them:

CFSR is an Adult Contemporary station licensed to Abbotsford, British Columbia. It's a repeater station of 98.3 CKSR from nearby Chilliwack, BC.

KIOI is a Hot Adult Contemporary station from San Francisco, California. Around 2001 "Star 101.3" had an 80s emphasis in their playlist but they're now a traditional Hot AC outlet. The KIOI call letters come from their 101 position on the radio dial.

WBAM was a Top-40 station from Montgomery, AlaBAMa. They're currently a Country station known as "Bama Country 98.9" with the same call letters.

Monday, October 12, 2009

"99.7 The Blitz" WRKZ is an Active Rock station licensed to Columbus, Ohio. They've been branded as "The Blitz" twice, the first time from 1992 to 2008 as WBZX and from 2010 until now. In between, they were known as "The Rock".

Sunday, October 11, 2009

The team that I love makes me want to puke. I watched the "highlights" of Buffalo vs. Cleveland on the internet and I'm not sure I've seen a worse Bills team since the 2-14 disasters of the mid 1980s. The Browns threw for 23 yards and an interception....and won! Injuries claimed two more players for the season. Our fraud of an offense scored one measly field goal against the 32nd rank defense. The Bills have lost two games in a row to teams who were previously winless. Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs since 1999. I could go on but it makes my stomach hurt and my blood pressure rise. I feel bad for my son who just this season is starting to "get" the game and asks "Why can't the Bills do that?" whenever he sees other teams execute well. I have cursed him to a life of professional football heartbreak and I feel terrible about it. For better of for worse we're still planning on making the 6 hour trek to Buffalo in late November for a game against the Dolphins. By then I expect a new coach and an awful lot of paper bags on the heads of fans who deserve better. I know you know this Ralph Wilson, you 90 year old coot. Fire the entire staff and, for once, pay a coach who knows how to win...there's plenty of them out there.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Drove 8 hours to my grandma's house to celebrate her 90th birthday today. Just as we pulled onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike we came up on an ancient, rusted-out Ford pickup with this sticker on the tailgate:The truck must have been at least 25 years old and it also had a Pittsburgh Penguins WDVE static sticker on the back window.

WDVE is a heritage Rock station from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The call letters are derived from "DoVE," a nod to the late 60s/early 70s "peace & love" hippie era when the station stopped simulcasting their sister station (KQV) and switched to Album Rock. They started out using an automated AOR service called "Love" which was delivered via tape. In 1970 they began using live DJs for their free-form Album Rock format. Currently WDVE would be considered a Classic Rock station.

Friday, October 9, 2009

WRVO (WRadio Voice of Oswego) is a public radio station broadcasting from the State University of New York at Oswego. Programming, featuring the usual National Public Radio offerings, is simulcast on three additional stations as well as four translators.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

WVIC was a Rock station licensed to East Lansing, Michigan. Not sure if this sticker dates back to the 1970s when WVIC FM simulcast the Top-40 of their AM sister station during the day and played progressive rock at night or if it's from a later Rock format. 94.9 FM is currently Classic Rocker WMMQ.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

WQBA (W "Cuba") is a Spanish Talk station at 1140 AM in Miami, Florida. The station is popular among the large Cuban population there and used to identify themselves as "La Cubanisma" ("the most Cuban.") Their current slogan is "The Voice of Miami" ("La voz de Miami.") This sticker resembles the Cuban flag turned on its end with a single star replaced by the call letters.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

KCMO was (you guessed it!) an Oldies station licensed to Kansas City, MissOuri. Beginning in 1977 the 94.9 frequency hosted a variety of formats including Easy Listening, Country and Top-40. From 1989 until 2005 they found success as "Oldies 95." As the audience for true oldies got older and less attractive from an advertising standpoint, KCMO turned into a Classic Hits station playing songs from the mid 60s to early 80s.

Monday, October 5, 2009

WGFA (World's Greatest Farming Area) is a News/Talk/Agriculture station licensed to Watseka, Illinois. The top sticker is actually traffic-cone orange with blue lettering but my scanner can't handle that color for some reason. I love the old-timey hobo with the cigarette and top hat (click his stubbly face to enlarge)...you don't hear people say "I'm a lucky bum" much anymore. Hard to believe people actually stuck these to their car bumpers once upon a time.

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About Me

I started collecting stickers and other radio-related crap over 30 years ago. This online radio sticker museum is an attempt to display some of the collection. Do you have any radio decals to trade? Send me an email at radiodecals@gmail.com. Is there a sticker you'd like to see? Let me know, I might just have it.
With a few, rare exceptions, every station logo on this blog is an actual sticker or item from the collection. If you find something factually wrong with anything in this blog, Radio Sticker Of The Day regrets the error....and blames Wikipedia.